


14 Years

by evashougouki



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rebuild of Evangelion | Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition
Genre: F/F, asumari, between 2.0 and 3.0, i needed non pornographic asumari excuse my subpar writing skills, ladies kicking ass and also fallin in love, rebuildverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3890962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evashougouki/pseuds/evashougouki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>14 years can change a lot- allegiances, motives, beliefs, and most definitely, relationships. Asuka joins a rebel group, meets an infuriatingly intersting girl, and learns this well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Year One

**Author's Note:**

> AsuMari needs some fics that aren't porn tbh. I figured I owed it to my OTP and tried my best.

At first, confusion, fear, and an intense bitterness permeated through the hearts of every human who had been so mercifully spared by the Near Third Impact. Only the privileged were granted the honor of life, with all others either perishing upon Impact or slowly withering away as its aftereffects- famine, natural disaster, war- took hold of their newly red planet.

No one knew what had happened, no one knew what would happen in their future, and no one knew who to blame for this- the governments were in shambles and, this time around, had no excuse to offer their battered citizens. No one knew, except Asuka Langley Shikinami. She knew exactly what had happened (Third Impact had begun) who to blame (Shinji Ikari) and what her future held (nothing good.) Armed with this knowledge, she set out to fight.

When she woke at first, she felt strange. There was no other word, really- just strange. Her whole body ached, though that was nothing new, and she felt strangely detached from the situation. Somehow she felt her humanity had been ripped from her, which was a strange thing to feel.

The second thing she noticed upon her awakening besides that permeating, all-consuming strangeness was that she was one eye shorter than she had been when she entered this godforsaken metal doll. It didn't hurt, per se, but just felt empty- she noticed the blood running down her face before she noticed anything else about her injury.

Strange. It just kept piling up.

After her own wellness (or possible lack thereof) check, she surveyed her surroundings. She was still trapped in the entry plug of Unit-03, though this time the LCL filling it held only dirt, not a lurking Angel's core. She wondered how she could still breathe, but decided worrying would do her no good. She could, and that was all that mattered- but clearly, she needed out.

The most obvious method would be to auto eject the plug, but last time she had tried that the Angel had blocked her signal and trapped her inside the big metal tube. She decided to try anyways, scrambling around to find the manual eject button, as she wasn't synchronized. The signal connected, but the plug only opened slightly.

"Damn Angel," she muttered under her breath, crawling up to the maybe 4-inch opening. She would have to force it open, and while she was strong for her frame, she knew this would likely be too heavy even for giant, grossly over-muscled bodybuilders. That's when she saw a thick crowbar hook around the edge of the plug- and snap a portion of cover right off. The dirty LCL pushed its way out, and at that very moment Asuka remembered how absolutely fucking foul dirty LCL actually was to breathe in.

Over her gasping, she vaguely heard a too-cheerful voice sing out, "Rise and shine, princess!"

Princess? What the fuck?

She pulled herself up out of the plug and assumed her most confident, intimidating position, only to find the girl that had rescued her was doing the exact same thing. She looked somehow striking in a battered pink plugsuit (though as far as Asuka knew, only she, the idiot, and the doll were pilots- she hoped her plugsuit made her look as good as this girl, though.) and red-rimmed glasses so cracked and covered in ash that Asuka was sure any sort of value gained from wearing them had to be negated at this point.

"You should fix your glasses," she pointed out coolly.

"You should fix your eye," the girl replied, though not unkindly. Her voice was unusual- lazy and syrupy sweet. Asuka couldn't tell if it was mocking or not.

"I'm no medical expert, but I think it's a little beyond fixing. I don't even know where the hell it is, no less where I can get it fixed."

Asuka looked around, attempting to gain her bearings- but every navigational point had been destroyed and seemingly replaced with a barren, red wasteland.

Nonetheless, she wanted to be alone, and away from this girl, so she turned and began to head in that direction, hopping down from piece to piece of the Evangelion. Annoyingly, the girl followed her every footstep. Asuka grit her teeth and trudged on, hoping maybe she would stop. She didn't, just began whistling some annoyingly chipper tune.

"What the hell do you want?" Asuka asked after probably too short of a time, spinning around and stepping threateningly towards the girl, who lazily raised her hands in a mocking defeat. "You're the pilot of Unit-02, yes?" she asked in that same relaxed voice of hers.

Asuka nodded tersely.

"Of course. I could recognize your lovely scent anywhere. It was in the entry plug."

"Wait, entry plug? Why were- what the fuck?" The girl had suddenly leaned in close and taken a long sniff of Asuka's neck, a cat-like grin morphing her face. Asuka pulled away in horror, just barely stopping herself from slapping this girl. That might delay the process of getting all the information she could from her.

"I took your Eva out on a spin. Hope you don't mind. She'll need a few repairs, but I think that it will be ok. I'm Mari Makinami, by the way- you'll probably need to know me now. I apologize in advance, princess."

Mari waved vaguely off in the distance to a pile of red scrap metal. Horror dawned upon Asuka- it had blended in so well with their newly red landscape that she hadn't even noticed the shape of her precious Unit-02. What would she do without it? Who the hell was she if she couldn't pilot her own specialty on humanity's greatest weapon? A cloying, sick feeling took hold of her guy, and she turned away from Mari.

"I don't want to talk to you right now, Mari," Asuka said, voice teeming with anger. If she hadn't been so worn out from her encounter with the Angel in Unit-03, fucking four-eyed Mari would be dead right now.

"That's fine," Mari sang cheerfully, grabbing Asuka's wrist, "but I'm taking you back to NERV either way." Asuka growled and tried to rip herself out of Mari's grip, but she was feeling rather weak- however long she had spent in Unit-03 had drained her energy, apparently.

"Nuh-uh, Princess! You're going to have to come along with humble ol' me!"

Mari hopped and skipped her way over and around the debris left behind from Near Third, expertly navigating the landscape until she stopped in an abandoned building on the outskirts of Tokyo-III. Asuka frowned, wanting to just hurry the hell up and get to her interrogation or whatever it was NERV had in store for her.

"What are we doing here?" Asuka asked quietly.

"We had to relocate," Mari explained absently, fiddling around with the lock on the door. "Aha! There we are!" She said as the knob clicked open. "Major Katsuragi! Misato! We have Asuka!"

"Mhm, that's wonderful," Asuka heard Misato say distantly. The door swung open to reveal the woman bent over a large drafting table littered with scribbled-over papers and empty coffee cans, her hair frizzy with oil and tied up into a loose ponytail. Dr. Akagi sat besides her, calmly analyzing as she always did.

Dr. Akagi glanced over the top of her glasses at the two girls, her hard green eyes scanning Asuka over. She didn't like it- she just wanted to be left alone to do her own thing.

"Come with me, Asuka." Dr. Akagi said coolly, "I will examine you. Our tools right now are...rudimentary, at best, but I will see what I can do."

Asuka didn't trust her, but she figured that maybe she should get her eye taken care of and see if she could glean some information about how the hell the idiot Shinji had managed to fuck up on this grand of a scale.

Mari plopped herself down in Dr. Akagi's former chair beside a fiendishly muttering Misato as Asuka was led into a comparatively well-lit lab.

"We have a generator running. The majority of the power is being directed towards this lab. Have a seat."

Asuka hesitantly sat down on a metal exam table, eyeing her surroundings for a way out if so needed. She never trusted anyone, no matter who they worked for. It was always best to rely upon herself, when it got down to it.

Dr. Akagi took out a small flashlight and disappeared into the darkness of Asuka's left side, presumably shining it into her empty eye socket. She shuddered, feeling disgustingly helpless now that she had been made aware of how blind she actually was with only one eye. She felt something metal poke at the socket and bit back a scream- the area was raw and sensitive. Be strong, she reminded herself, worse has happened to you, and worse has yet to come.

Dr. Akagi leaned back into her line of vision, looking grave."You've severed the optic nerve, meaning that even if we could make you some sort of working prosthetic eye, we would have no way to connect it to the brain. I'm afraid it's gone for good."

Asuka nodded. She had figured as much, but nonetheless her heart still sank. It would be much harder to fight with only one field of vision- she would have to work to improve that so she could be the best yet again. Besides, she didn't know yet how that Mari chick stacked up in piloting ability.

"Now, tell me how exactly you lost it."

"When I was inside the Angel."

"Clearly. I was inquiring as to your experiences within the Angel."

"You'll have to trade info with me, then."

Dr. Akagi leaned forward, thick brows drawing together and emphasizing a fine line on her forehead. Clearly it wasn't a foreign action to her.

"Fine, I'll bite. What would you like to know?"

"What happened, and what is happening right now."

The older woman leaned back again, the hint of a smile lifting the corners of her dark lips- definitely a more foreign gesture.

"The Third Impact began, but some unknown benefactor in an unknown Evangelion unit stopped it with an ancient lance that had been trapped on the moon for as long as we all can remember."

Asuka crossed her arms. That didn't sound believable in the slightest, but the Doctor generally wasn't one to stretch the truth. She could make judgements when the story was over.

"Another Angel attacked while you were still incapacitated in Unit-03's entry plug. Ayanami went to attack in Unit-00, and Makinami somehow gained control of Unit-02, but both failed. Ayanami's unit was consumed by the Angel, and Ikari came out from his... leave to fight it. He awoke Unit-01 and apparently sought to retrieve Ayanami from the Angel, but the contact started Third Impact."

Anger welled up inside of her, and she slammed her fist against the metal table. Of course Shinji ruined it for them. He couldn't keep his damn emotions in check, as per usual, and started the fucking apocalypse- and all for Ayanami, too. What was she worth to anyone? She had no personality, she was the worst of the three of them at piloting, and even said herself that she could be replaced. She was simply a doll, not someone to end the world over.

"Fucking idiot." Asuka muttered venomously, and Dr. Akagi laughed.

"I have to agree. Now everyone who's left is scrambling for food and shelter, and looking for loved ones. Misato is trying to organize an aid effort, but we don't have much ourselves to give. Now, tell me your story. What was it like within the Angel?"

Dr. Akagi readied her pen, and Asuka shifted, uneasy. She didn't exactly want to remember, and knowing the circumstances behind this most recent apocalypse had her fuming, but it was probably best to stick to her word.

"Well... It was exactly like it sounds. I was absorbed into the Angel. The entry plug seemed to dissolve around me, and next thing I knew, I had dissolved with it. I became part of it. I heard it's thoughts, saw what it saw, felt what it felt- while losing myself in the process."

It all came rushing back at her- the Angel had just wanted to know what humans were like, and it had been so afraid when Unit-01 had descended upon it. Asuka remembered the beating, a flurry of fists and blood and pain, and suddenly felt lucky that all she had lost was an eye.

"Look, they're just curious. All it wanted was to see what humans and their feelings were like. They weren't out to hurt us; we just hurt them first!"

She realized suddenly that her voice had gotten loud, and Dr. Akagi was staring.

"Interesting. Maya, please draw a vial of Miss Shikinami's blood, please."

\---

Dr. Akagi had started to act a little strange after questioning Asuka, and had shooed her from the lab as soon as Maya had taken her blood. Asuka sighed and walked back out to Mari and Misato, who were leaned over and talking feverishly to each other. Asuka pressed up against the wall, figuring that they would stop talking if she walked in, even if she was allowed to hear.

"It's right here." Mari said, pointing at one of the papers.

Misato dug her nails into her scalp and shook her head.

"I know. I just don't want to believe it. All I wanted was to kill the goddamn angels." Mari reached over and patted her back. "I know, but it's undeniable. NERV's whole purpose was to bring about the end of the world, not stop it. You've been working towards this the whole time."


	2. Year Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the first synch tests in a year, an unlikely partnership emerges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chaper 100% better written and with 50% more gay!

One by one, former members of NERV wandered into their little sanctuary, each choosing to stay with them after they discovered the truth behind NERV's motives. The details were still murky- Gendo and Fuyutsuki had yet to have been found.  
No one really knew what their job or affiliation was- they were ex-members of NERV, and they did their best to help people whenever they could.  
Personally, Asuka never understood why they had to overextend their every last resource to help people who were going to lead meaningless lives and not go anywhere. The world was done for- it held nothing for people who wouldn't help it. And at this point, Asuka wasn't sure anything could be helped.  
She sat at yet another "board" meeting, bored out of her skull. The board wasn't much- just her, Misato, Dr. Akagi, Mari, and sometimes Maya, gathered in a dimly lit room around an old folding picnic table they had salvaged.  
Conditions of their new headquarters had improved, but not by much. They had managed to build a few more generators to power areas that weren't the damn laboratory. A few sleeping quarters had even been set up. Asuka was stuck as the bottom bunk to Mari's top.  
Honestly, it had been a year and she still didn't know how she felt about Mari. She certainly was.. odd, and annoyingly cheerful all the damn time, but Asuka was interested. It would seem as if Mari was an open, friendly person, but really she never let any details about herself slip.  
Asuka usually didn't give two shits about what other people were like, but her razor-sharp battle instincts she bared in their training had caught her attention, and now every little unknown detail frustrated her.  
Who was Mari Makinami?  
Where did she come from?  
And, most importantly, why the fuck did she hang random junk she found in the rubble all over the walls in her quarter?  
Misato's hardened voice pulled Asuka out of her reverie.  
"This is a big meeting, so listen up," she announced authoritatively. In response, Mari leaned back in her chair, propping her feet up on the table and crossing her fingers behind her head.  
"Aye, aye, captain!"  
Dr. Akagi gave Mari a side-eye and turned to Maya, whispering quietly and trading some papers with the girl.  
"Alright, so biggest news first- we have ourselves a name. We've separated fully from NERV now, and figured that it is high time to make that official. WILLE, we will call ourselves."  
Asuka winced at yet another butchering of her native German. Will, it meant. Interesting- they had moved away from those damn nervous system words.  
"Also, my main girl Ritsuko has some news as well. Ritz?"  
Ritsuko dispensed yet another scorning glance like the ever faithful geyser of snark she was meant to be, and stood up. She slipped on her reading glasses and glanced down at her file. Maya was looking up at her, slightly slack-jawed.  
"Ahem."  
"Oh! Right!"  
Maya blushed a little and stood up quickly beside her, glancing over every few seconds and biting her lip. Asuka laughed a little internally- if anything, Maya was getting worse at hiding her feelings as time went on. Pretty pathetic.  
"We've finally developed the technology to begin salvaging the Evangelion units again. We have several repairs needed for Unit 02 and we can modify Unit 03 into a new unit for Mari. At our current rate of progress, this can be done in five years, but we expect that our technology will advance in the meantime. However, we can perform basic synchronization tests and start you two's training now."  
Mari and Asuka both seemed to glance at each other at the same time, and Asuka couldn't help from being swept up in the excitement of the moment and smiling at her, as much as she thought showing happiness was unnecessary. Finally! It had been too fucking long without any piloting duties, and even with all the battery of tests Akagi ran on her constantly, she still felt disgustingly worthless around WILLE's headquarters. It was about time for her to be able to prove herself again.  
Maya coughed in a meek imitation of Ritsuko to try and grab their attention, so Asuka and Mari ceded and directed their attention towards her, somewhat hesitantly.  
"We have managed to salvage your plugsuits and recreate internal entry pod conditions, so testing can commence whenever Pilots Shikinami and Makinami are ready."  
God, was Asuka ready. Mari stretched and let out an obnoxiously mewling yawn. "Yeah, that's cool. I'm down." Both Asuka and Ritsuko shot her a disapproving look, and she shrugged.  
Asuka had seen this girl in battle, why wasn't she excited about this? She would be perfect competition, if she could get worked up!  
"Oh, uh. Pilot Shikinami, Rit- Dr. Akagi and I would like to speak with you after your synch test."  
Caught off guard, Asuka defaulted up to glare at Maya. What could they want that they couldn't say in front of Mari or Misato? Did they finally learn something from all the goddamn tests they'd been running on her. Yeah, and Asuka was Jesus. Whatever it was, she didn't think it was fair to them to make her anxious over it right before her first synch test in a year. Or maybe they were looking to see how it affected her- they were a sneaky bunch. But whatever, Asuka could get herself in the zone and kick more ass than they could ever expect.  
The meeting was adjourned with a lot of various paperwork and complaints over said paperwork. Asuka and Mari headed off towards their rudimentary locker room to change into their apparently salvaged plugsuits, while Maya and Dr. Akagi went to set up the experiment together.  
She pulled out her plugsuit- the real one, not the test suit monstrosity, and looked it over thoroughly. It was the same aside from a few patches on the leg and chest, which made her none too pleased. Mari peeked over her shoulder at it and whistled.  
"I'm jealous of the tape. It'll make you look all badass and rugged- no one will want to fuck with you! Mine's cool, but they'll know I'm just a newbie."  
"You are just a newbie," Asuka pointed out, "and it's not like anyone sees you inside the Eva anyways. Don't worry over stupid things like that when you have an Eva to pilot."  
"I'll stop worrying when you do, Princess!"  
"I'm not worrying."  
"Worrying over how hard I'm going to beat you at this synch test."  
"You fucking wish, Four Eyes!" Asuka grinned ever so slightly, stripping and stepping into the suit.  
"Four Eyes, hm? Not the most creative, but neither is mine. I like the dual nicknames thing we've got going here. It's the mark of great frenemies."  
Asuka laughed at Mari's stupidity, shaking her head and depressing the little switch on her wrist to deflate the suit. God, it felt so good- she felt so powerful, with the cool vinyl pressed up against her raw skin. Now it was only a matter of keeping that way. During the last year of virtually free time, her mind had drifted from thoughts of success, so now she had to snap back into it that mindset. Forget Mari- she's your rival, not your friend. You don't need friends. Focus, Asuka- you mustn't fail.  
Mari hummed but the room was otherwise silent as they headed towards the testing room. Dr. Akagi and Maya were waiting for them, leaned in close and talking for a bit before they noticed the two girls. What scientists they were.  
Dr. Akagi stood up calmly and ushered them into the new entry plugs... "new" being a bit of a stretch here. They were clearly salvaged from their crashed Evas, with a few bangs in the metal eased out and the 03 painted to look like an 08- Asuka figured that was Mari's.  
The two of them clambered into their respective plugs, while Dr. Akagi set up the computer system, Maya peering over her shoulder. Soon enough, the LCL flooded the plug, filling Asuka's lungs and making her feel alive again. This is what she lived for- to be the best pilot there was. She relaxed into her seat and closed her eyes, completely submerging herself. Mari was surprisingly quiet- Asuka was almost sure she had switched off the communications system, for whatever reason.  
Soon enough, the LCL drained from their plugs, and Asuka made her way out. Misato had apparently found her way into the lab, as she was waiting for them with Dr. Akagi and Maya.  
"Alright ladies, here we go. Bad news first- both of your synch rates have fallen significantly since we last tested you. Slightly less bad news second- Asuka, your rates are still perfectly fine for most missions. Mari, you still have a little work, but you can both improve. So, starting tomorrow, you two are going to start training together. I'll lead at first but you two aren't dumb, so I'll leave you on your own after that. I have to go now, though."  
She threw them all a quick little peace sign and a smile, and whisked off to whatever it was that she did all day. Asuka felt like she was always busy with something or another- she figured running an agency like WILLE would be sort of time-consuming.  
Asuka spent the rest of the day alone, as she liked, thinking. Then, at some ungodly late hour, Mari meandered in, plopping down on Asuka's bed and tucking her fingers behind her head before falling ungraciously back. Asuka sat up quickly, distancing herself from Mari. "What the hell? Get off of my bed!"  
"Not right now, Princess. Sorry! I want to talk, since we're training partners now and all."  
Asuka drew her knees to her chest, not kicking her off but not saying anything, either.  
"Relax! I just want to talk. I'm not your enemy or anything, Princess. I'm not going go try and overtake your dominance or anything. I'm just along for the ride, you know?"  
Asuka was suspicious. Why would this girl suddenly approach her after a year or rooming together and try to talk to her? She had to be after something. Was she looking for a weakness? A secret? Or friendship?? Asuka didn't know and she wanted to find out.  
"Look- you excite me." Mari said, sitting up, "I hate it when it's boring like it has been the last year. I like life to be wild and crazy and fun. I think if you and I teamed up, life would be like that. We could shake things up."  
Shaking things up did sound a little tempting, Asuka admitted to herself. Besides, she admired how upfront Mari was about this- not bullshitting around the matter or tiptoeing around oh-so-sensitive emotions. She could appreciate the efficiency.  
"We could be a hell of a team. You could of course take center stage, Princess- I'll watch it all go down from afar."  
"I've never really been a team with anyone. I usually work solo." Asuka said, making sure to keep her voice unreadable.  
"Me too." Chirped Mari, "Working alone gets the job done best. But I wouldn't mind working with the Princess." She grinned. "You don't mind giving everything you've got to succeed, do you?"  
Asuka smiled faintly, letting her legs straighten and leaning back. "Of course not. That gets the job done best."  
Mari stuck out a hand. "Have we got a deal, then?"  
Asuka paused for a second, then reached out and grabbed Mari's hand, giving it a shake. Her palms and fingertips were surprisingly calloused.  
"Deal. Partners, it is."  
God only knew how this would work out.


End file.
